The intestine, which provides the first line of defense against over trillion of enteric microorganisms, suffers from broad range of inflammatory conditions caused by infectious, autoimmune, allergic, neurological, and ischemic mechanisms. Recent data have suggested dual roles (protective versus deleterious) for galectins in the pathogenesis of some intestinal inflammations, highlighting ...

Lactoferrin (LF), a pleiotropic iron-binding glycoprotein, is known to modulate the humoral immune response. However, its exact role in Ig synthesis has yet to be elucidated. In this study, we investigated the effect of LF on Ig production by mouse B cells and its underlying mechanisms. LF, like transforming growth ...

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is an incurable disease which affects millions of people. Garlic (Allium sativum) preparations have been traditionally employed for the treatment of diseases affecting the digestive tract. Here, we have investigated the effect of diallyl sulfide (DAS) and diallyl disulfide (DADS), two garlic-derived sulfur compounds, on intestinal ...

The aetiology and pathology of IBS, a functional bowel disorder thought to lack an organic cause, is largely unknown. However, studies suggest that various features, such as altered composition of the gut microbiota, together with increased intestinal permeability, a changed balance in the enteroendocrine system and a dysregulated immune system ...

Mann Elizabeth R ER *Antigen Presentation Research Group, Imperial College London, Northwick Park and St. Mark's Campus, Harrow, United Kingdom; †Gastrointestinal Division, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland; ‡Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, Institute of Digestive Disease, Li Ka Shing Institute of Health Science, State Key Laboratory of Digestive Disease, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China; §Division of Biomedical and Life Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medicine, Lancaster University, Lancaster, United Kingdom; ‖Department of Gastroenterology, St. Mark's Hospital, North West London Hospitals NHS Trust, Harrow, United Kingdom; ¶Yakult UK Ltd., South Ruislip, United Kingdom; and **Centre for Immunology and Infectious Disease, Blizard Institute, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, United - - 2014

Our cover features a light micrograph of a mucosal biopsy from healthy human colon stained with anti phospho-Syk antibody. The image is taken from Cohen-Kedar et al., in which the authors examined whether human intestinal epithelial cells (IECs) can recognize and respond to β-glucans. The authors show that both freshly ...

The intestinal microbiota is the collection of the living microorganisms (bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and viruses) inhabiting the gastrointestinal tract. Novel bacterial identification approaches have revealed that the gastrointestinal microbiota of dogs and cats is, similarly to humans, a highly complex ecosystem. Studies in dogs and cats have demonstrated that acute ...

P-glycoprotein (P-gp) is an ATP-dependent efflux pump encoded by the MDR1 gene in humans, known to mediate multidrug resistance of neoplastic cells to cancer therapy. For several decades, P-gp inhibition has drawn many significant research efforts in an attempt to overcome this phenomenon. However, P-gp is also constitutively expressed in ...

The intestinal epithelium is a critical component of the gut barrier. Composed of a single layer of intestinal epithelial cells (IECs) held together by tight junctions, this delicate structure prevents the transfer of harmful microorganisms, antigens, and toxins from the gut lumen into the circulation. The equilibrium between the rate ...

Mucosal surfaces represent the largest areas of interactions of the host with its environment. Subsequently, the mucosal immune system has evolved complex strategies to maintain the integrity of the host by inducing protective immune responses against pathogenic and tolerance against dietary and commensal microbial antigens within the broad range of ...

A strong connection between spondylarthropathies and inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) is well established. About 10-15 % of IBD are associated with different forms of spondylarthritis. Arthritis can be manifested as axial, peripheral form or both. The primary functions of the gastrointestinal tract are digestion and absorption of nutrients, electrocytes and maintenance ...

Kernbauer Elisabeth E 1] Kimmel Center for Biology and Medicine at the Skirball Institute, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York 10016, USA [2] Department of Microbiology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York 10016, - - 2014

Intestinal microbial communities have profound effects on host physiology. Whereas the symbiotic contribution of commensal bacteria is well established, the role of eukaryotic viruses that are present in the gastrointestinal tract under homeostatic conditions is undefined. Here we demonstrate that a common enteric RNA virus can replace the beneficial function ...

Th17 cells have emerged as important mediators of host defense and homeostasis at barrier sites, particularly the intestines, where the greatest number and diversity of the microbiota reside. A critical balance exists between protection of the host from its own microbiota and pathogens and the development of immune-mediated disease. Breaches ...

Acute intestinal damage induced by chemotherapeutic agent is often a dose-limiting factor in clinical cancer therapy. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of chemokine CXCL9 on the intestinal damage after chemotherapy and explore the therapeutic potential of anti-CXCL9 agents. In vitro cell proliferation assay was performed ...

The small intestine is an organ with very well developed immunological activity, responsible for synthesis of specific inflammatory mediators that participate in causing the systemic inflammation that can occur after ischemia-reperfusion injury. The aim of our work was to study mRNA expression and protein concentration of inflammatory cytokines IL-10 and ...

Normal tissue toxicity markedly reduces the therapeutic index of genotoxic anticancer agents, including ionizing radiation. Countermeasures against tissue damage caused by radiation are limited by their potential to also protect malignant cells and tissues. Here, we tested a panel of signal transduction modifiers for selective radioprotection of normal but not ...

It is commonly stated that mucosal immunity plays a role in the pathogenesis of IgA nephropathy (IgAN); however, the search for specific eliciting factors has been largely inconclusive. A dysregulated mucosal immune system with defective immune tolerance to commonly encountered pathogens or alimentary components is likely to be the key ...

Intestinal ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury is a pathophysiology involving local tissue injury and organ dysfunction. Accumulating evidence has confirmed that the infiltration of neutrophils is of central importance in mediating intestinal I/R injury. On the other hand, adequate neutrophils in the intestine could also benefit the antibacterial translocation and tissue repair. ...

To investigate inflammatory injury in the intestinal mucosa after intestinal ischemia-reperfusion (IIR) with Toll-like receptor (TLR)-mediated innate immunity. Ten macaques were randomized into control and IIR groups. The distribution and expression level of TLR2, TLR4, MD2, nuclear factor (NF)-κB p65 and interferon (IFN)-γ were measured by immunohistochemical stain and western ...

The small and large intestine of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) have evolved to have discrete functions with distinct anatomies and immune cell composition. The importance of these differences is underlined when considering that different pathogens have uniquely adapted to live in each region of the gut. Furthermore, different regions of ...

A single layer of intestinal epithelial cells (IEC) lines the entire GI tract and provides the first line of defence and barrier against an abundance of microbial stimuli. IEC homeostasis and repair are mediated through microbe-sensing Toll-like receptor (TLR)-induced inflammatory pathways. Increasing evidence supports a role of suppressor of cytokine ...

TLRs play an important role in mediating intestinal inflammation and homeostasis. Fas is best studied in terms of its function in apoptosis, but recent studies demonstrate that Fas signaling may mediate additional functions such as inflammation. The role of Fas, and the Fas ligand (FasL), in the intestine is poorly ...

To critically review recent advances on the role of programmed necrosis and other cell death modalities in intestinal health and inflammatory bowel disease. Tight regulation of intestinal epithelial cell proliferation and cell death is required for intestinal physiology, and to maintain an integral barrier that restricts microbiota translocation and ensures ...

Kernbauer Elisabeth E aKimmel Center for Biology and Medicine at the Skirball Institute bDepartment of Microbiology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York, - - 2014

To highlight recent findings that identify an essential role for the cellular degradative pathway of autophagy in governing a balanced response to intestinal pathogens and commensals. Following the genetic association of autophagy with inflammatory bowel disease susceptibility, increasing evidence indicates that this pathway functions in various epithelial lineages to support ...

One of the important mechanisms for gastrointestinal (GI) injury following high-dose radiation exposure is apoptosis of epithelial cells. X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis (XIAP) and cellular IAP2 (cIAP2) are intrinsic cellular inhibitors of apoptosis. In order to study the effects of exogenously added IAPs on apoptosis in intestinal epithelial cells, we ...

Abstract Several genome-wide association studies have identified the genes encoding for macrophage-stimulating protein (MSP) and its receptor RON (Recepteur d'Origine Nantais) as possible susceptibility factors in inflammatory bowel disease. While it has been shown that the MSP-RON signaling pathway is involved in tissue injury responses, current mouse models for MSP ...

Deoxynivalenol (DON) is one of the most prevalent cereal contaminants with major public health concerns owing to its high toxigenic potentials. Once ingested, DON first and foremost targets epithelial cells of the gastrointestinal tract, whose proper functioning, as the first line of defence, is of paramount importance for the host's ...

Animals develop in the presence of complex microbial communities and early host responses to these microbes can influence key aspects of development, such as maturation of the immune system, in ways that impact adult physiology. We previously showed that the zebrafish intestinal alkaline phosphatase (ALPI) gene alpi.1 was induced by ...

Lipopolysaccharide was found to be elevated in the plasma of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients and may play an important role in the pathogenesis and propagation of these intestinal diseases. To illustrate the destructive effect of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and to test the protective effect of 1,25-Dihydroxyvitamin ...

Acute lung injury (ALI) is a common complication following intestinal ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) and is a major contributing factor to its high mortality rate. Sirtuin 1 (SIRT1), a NAD+‑dependent deacetylase, has been reported to have an important role in apoptosis inhibition, oxidative stress resistance and cell lifespan extension through its deacetylation ...

Tumor progression locus-2 (Tpl2) kinase is a major inflammatory mediator in immune cell types recently found to be genetically associated with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs). Here we show that Tpl2 may exert a dominant homeostatic rather than inflammatory function in the intestine mediated specifically by subepithelial intestinal myofibroblasts (IMFs). Mice ...

Secretory immunoglobulin A (SIgA) is a non-inflammatory antibody that shields internal body surfaces, such as in the intestine to neutralize pathogens in the lumen of the intestine. As chemotherapy seriously damages the mucosal immune system, we herein demonstrated that polysaccharide from the squid ink of Ommastrephes bartrami (OBP) activated intestinal ...

Clostridium difficile is the leading cause of infectious nosocomial diarrhea. The pathogenesis of C. difficile infection (CDI) results from the interactions between the pathogen, the intestinal epithelium, host immune system and the gastrointestinal microbiota. Previous studies of the host-pathogen interaction in CDI have utilized either simple cell monolayers or in ...

Intestinal fibrosis is a major complication of the inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) and although inflammation is necessary for its development, it would appear that it plays a minor role in its progression as anti-inflammatory treatments in IBD do not prevent fibrosis once it has started. The processes that regulate fibrosis ...

The integrity of intestinal barrier is essential for the absorption of nutrients and health in humans and animals. Dysfunction of the mucosal barrier is associated with increased gut permeability and development of various gastrointestinal diseases. Aside from serving as substrates for protein biosynthesis, amino acids also maintain the health of ...

Intestinal macrophages originate from inflammatory blood monocytes which migrate to the intestine, where they differentiate into anti-inflammatory macrophages through a number of transitional stages. These macrophages typically remain hypo-responsive to commensal bacteria and food Ags in the intestine, yet also retain the ability to react to invading pathogens. In this ...

The mucosa of the small intestine is renewed completely every 3-5 d throughout the entire lifetime by small populations of adult stem cells that are believed to reside in the bottom of the crypts and to migrate and differentiate into all the different populations of intestinal cells. When the cells ...

Read Lisa T LT Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA - - 2014

Enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC) are a significant cause of diarrheal disease and death, especially in children in developing countries. ETEC cause disease by colonizing the small intestine and producing heat-labile toxin (LT), heat-stable toxin (ST), or both LT and ST (LT/ST). The majority of ETEC produce both ST and LT. ...

Olson Alicia A From the Department of Surgery, Wayne State University, Detroit, - - 2014

The incidence and severity of Clostridium difficile colitis have increased dramatically in the last decade. Disease severity is related to C. difficile virulence factors, including toxins A and B, as well as the patient's immune status. The intestinal mucus is an important component of innate barrier function in the intestine. ...

Intestinal ischemia-reperfusion injury (I/R) is a common syndrome encountered in clinic following intestinal surgery, strangulated hernia, and shock. Hypertonic saline has been shown to prevent inflammatory tissue damages caused by I/R and regulate immunologic disorders in peripheral blood. However, the immunoregulatory effects of hypertonic saline on the small intestine response ...

The health benefits of probiotics are thought to occur, at least in part, through an improved intestinal microbial balance in fish, although the molecular mechanisms whereby probiotics modulate the intestinal microbiota by means of activation of mucosal immunity are rarely explored. In this study, the effects of viable and heat-inactivated ...

: Interleukin-17 receptor A (IL-17RA) is responsible for both IL-17A and IL-25 (IL-17E) signaling pathways. Current evidences suggest distinct but interactive responses between IL-17A and IL-25 signaling, both of which are critical for intestinal immune homeostasis. IL-17RA is assumed to regulate this counterbalance and therefore becomes a crucial molecule in ...

In this study, 24 immune markers were analysed in feces from healthy volunteers (n=34) before and after consumption of a red wine (12% ethanol, 1758 mg/L total polyphenols) for 4 weeks. The analysis of the data permitted to differentiate a 6-volunteer subgroup showing unusually high basal values of cytokines. For ...